Scott V. Bruner, 1966-2012

Scott V. Bruner “looked like he came out of a Sherlock Holmes novel,” a friend said.

With a sartorial style that leaned to fedora hats, bow ties and even, when attending the opera, a cape, Scott V. Bruner hardly fit the image of a hard-nosed Cook County prosecutor.

But Mr. Bruner's interest in criminal law began in childhood and continued through his education at Harvard Law School, leading to a long career as a state and federal prosecutor. Mr. Bruner also worked in Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration.

"Scott was a wonderful person who left behind not just a wonderful family but a real legion of admirers in the U.S. attorney's office, the Cook County state's attorney's office and City Hall," said former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who hired Mr. Bruner in 2010.

Mr. Bruner, 46, died of pancreatic cancer Thursday, Oct. 25, at Midwest Palliative & Hospice Care Center in Glenview, said his wife, Mary. He was a resident of Chicago.

Raised in Haddonfield, N.J., Mr. Bruner was adopted at 3 months old. At age 3 he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia.

He became interested in law early on. At 14 he was fascinated with trying to identify a serial killer in Atlanta. Mr. Bruner's parents found him in his room with newspaper clippings all over the walls relating to the case just like an FBI profiler, his family said.

Mr. Bruner received a bachelor's degree in history and political science from Rutgers University in 1988. During the summer after his junior year, Mr. Bruner met his future wife while they were interns in The Washington Center program in Washington. The couple married in 1993.

Mr. Bruner graduated in 1992 from Harvard Law, where he was active in the school's drama society. He was recruited by the Cook County state's attorney's office out of law school.

"He certainly wasn't a typical assistant state's attorney, most of whom were white, Irish Catholic and from Chicago," said Chicago lawyer Matt Crowl, a friend who worked with Mr. Bruner at City Hall.

"Here was a guy who's African-American, from Jersey, from Harvard and wearing a fedora and a bow tie. Scott looked like he came out of a Sherlock Holmes novel," Crowl said.

Over the next decade, Mr. Bruner prosecuted a range of felonies and gang crimes. He tried more than 20 jury trials, roughly half of which were murder cases. He also worked as a supervisor training new assistant state's attorneys.

In 2003, Mr. Bruner joined Daley's office as a mayoral assistant overseeing public safety.

"The year before Scott started as the mayor's deputy, there were 656 murders in Chicago, and when he left that job two years later, there were 453," Crowl said. "Appropriately so, he'd give all the credit to the Police Department and the community, but Scott was a tremendous part of that reduction."

Mr. Bruner was named the city's liquor commissioner in 2004, then moved to head a newly created department of business affairs and licensing in 2005. He oversaw the city's Department of Administrative Hearings from 2008 to 2010.

In 2010, Fitzgerald hired Mr. Bruner as an assistant U.S. attorney. During his brief tenure in the office before becoming sick, Mr. Bruner was part of an operation with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to infiltrate and eradicate the black market of untaxed cigarettes.

Mr. Bruner was known for his positive outlook and upbeat disposition, his wife said.

"With his laugh, I always knew where Scott was a room and a half away," Mary Bruner said.

Despite all the health struggles in his life, Mr. Bruner never complained, Crowl said.

"The way he carried himself the last two years was just a really fine example of courage and dignity," Fitzgerald said.

Mr. Bruner is also survived by a daughter, Cate, and his parents, Van and Lillian.